Councilman Holman proud of how far longtime home has progressed

STOCKTON - Elbert Holman Sr. would be proud of the son who carries his name as well as the city that Stockton has become.

Kevin Parrish

STOCKTON - Elbert Holman Sr. would be proud of the son who carries his name as well as the city that Stockton has become.

Holman Sr. and his wife, Sally, moved from Texas in 1946, rented in Sierra Vista, bought their first home on the city's south side and raised nine children.

"I remember a time when I was told not to go north of Harding Way," Elbert Holman Jr., a Stockton city councilman, told the 80 people gathered Monday morning to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. "I was reminded to go back south of Main Street."

Both of his parents have died, but not the lessons they taught their children.

"He taught all of us to be the best you can be at whatever we do," the 63-year-old Holman said. "If you're just a street sweeper, do it like Michelangelo."

Holman, retired after 34 years in law enforcement, was appointed to the council in 2009 and then elected in November 2010. He was born in Stockton, graduated from Edison High School and has lived his whole life in the city.

His father worked 20 years for the city of Stockton and was a night watchman who kept an eye on City Hall. "Now I sit at the dais of that building," Holman said, pointing across Fremont Street from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza. "And I'm a policymaker. It's all because of Dr. King. I can thank him for that."

Holman also exhorted those assembled to "never stop talking about the things that matter - going to school, your fellow man, what you can do to make Stockton a better place."

He later reflected on the racism that once dominated the community.

"In the late 1970s, my wife and I were looking to buy a home," Holman said. "The Realtor refused to show us anything north of Harding Way. It was red-lining. We fired her and bought off Lincoln Road.

"There was a subtle form of racism back then that held people down. Things are better now, but we still have a long way to go."

He credited his mother and father for the "ethics and mentoring" to aspire to more.

The irony is not lost on Holman that he now represents District 1, the city's northernmost council district. It is a place where Holman would have been unwelcome 40 years ago.